All posts filed under: Hip Hop

Originally posted on Cookies + Sangria: Welcome back to Hamilton Explained! It’s been a minute. When the Hamilton soundtrack was released all of these historical and musical references were jumping out at me and I wanted to start unpacking some of them here. I wasn’t counting on a whole community of people doing this very thing over at Genius. Instead of duplicating the efforts from Genius (check out their annotations if you haven’t!) here’s Cabinet Battle #1, explained through tweets from Kanye West’s epic January 27, 2016 against Wiz Khalifa. WASHINGTON: Ladies and gentlemen, you coulda been anywhere in the world tonight, but you’re here with us in New York City. Are you ready for a cabinet meeting??? The issue on the table: Secretary Hamilton’s plan to assume state debt and establish a national bank. Secretary Jefferson, you have the floor, sir JEFFERSON: ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ We fought for these ideals; we shouldn’t settle for less These are wise words, enterprising men quote ‘em Don’t act surprised, you guys, cuz I wrote ‘em 8th I…

Originally posted on Black Millennials: T.I. has finally parted ways?with his breakout star.?What took him so long? In 2011, when radio and television personality Charlamagne Tha God said that Iggy Azalea — then a fresh off the success of “Pussy” — was gonna be a star, I scoffed. Where he saw potential, I saw an explicit marketing ploy with little sustainability or long term success. Iggy Azalea featured on the venerable XXL Freshman cover (2012) I saw the gentrification of hip hop where white artists with some edge would be pushed before audiences before the audience pushed back. I saw cultural appropriation and cooptation, inauthenticity, and an obvious — if not desperate — attempt to turn a quick profit. While I was clear in my interpretation of the Australian born rapper, others were not. “Fancy,” her record breaking single, dominated airwaves in 2014. Clear Channel, the biggest radio outlet in the country, included her in their “On The Verge” program, an initiative designed to give emerging artists optimal exposure to some 245 million monthly listeners.…